Improvement in office-indicators



J. S. DUFPIB. Office-Indicator.

No. 210,765. Patehte dDec. 10,1878.

N-PETERS, PHOTO-LITNOGRAFHER. WASHiNGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JOHN S. DUFFIE, OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD H. CHAMBERLAIN, OF SAME PLACE, AND MARCUS A. "WALLACE, OF JACK- SON, MISSOURIONE-FOURTH TO EACH.

IMPROVEMENT IN OFFICE-INDICATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 210,765, dated December 10, 1878; application filed March 9, 1878.

To all whom it may] concern Be it known that I, J OHN S. Dorrrn, of Little Rock, Arkansas, have invented a new and valuable device, which, it attached to a door of a house or office, will indicate where the occupant can be found; and I do hereby declare that the following is a clear, full, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

This device is called the office indicator and consists of a circular wheel, (made of any stiii material, such as tin, wood, or pasteboard,) as shown in Figure 1, with eight or more sentences attached thereto.

The wheel A is attached by means of a stud, A, to a square plate, B, with a segmental opening, 13, through which may be discerned any of the sentences on the wheel as the same may be adjusted, only one being discernible at a time. On the face of the plate B, directly beneath this segmental opening B, the name of the person whose whereabouts, &c., it is desired to indicate should be. placed.

D represents a springhandle secured to the wheel A, and it is provided with an orifice near its outer end to receive pegs or studs d upon the plate B. As the handle D is placed over any of these pegs d, the sentence corresponding to that near the peg becomes visible through the opening B.

Thus, when the spring-handle is placed over the peg at E, Fig. 3, the words At circuit court will be seen through the opening in the plate. When the handle is placed at F, Fig.

3, Atdinner will be seen.

This device can be attached to the door, on

the inside-,with tacks, or it may be suspended by a cord, so that its face will be seen through the glass; or, if there be no glass in the door, a small opening may be made through the panel of the door just the size of the opening in the plate. (See 13, Fig. 2.)

By means of this indicator any person moving the handle to the desired point can indicate where he may be found. The device, being on the inside of the door, is out of the reach of persons outside the building, and thereby is secured from molestation.

By making the screw (see A, Fig. 1) long enough to extend through the panel of a door, the indicator can be placed on the outside of the door and the handle on the inside, thus still keeping the device from being tampered with.

If any of the sentences on the wheel should not meet the wants of the purchaser, the wheel is made so that it can be easily taken off by unscrewing the top, so that he may paste a blank piece of paper over the sentence, and write instead thereof what he wishes.

I am aware that indicators consisting of a rotating wheel inclosed within metallic disks or flanges are not new, and hence I lay no broad claim to the invention thereof; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination, with the plate B, provided with opening B and pegs d, of the rotary information-dish A A and spring-handle 1), having rcgistcnslot, as and for the purpose set forth.

- JOHN S. DUI-FIE.

I/Vi tnesses E. H. CHAMBERLAIN, H. Bonn. 

